Ball touches runner in Foul ?

[vacsell]

I am new to baseball so don't think I am a complete idiot.

I saw something at a game the other night I do not understand. The baserunner made contact with his own batted ball outside of the batters box on the way to first. He was clearly in foul territory when he made contact. The ball then went fair after the contact and the Umpires ruled him safe at first. Isn't the ball dead upon contact with a runner in foul territory?

[widac]

Yes. From your description it should have been foul. The umps must have not seen it hit him. What level was this?

[arbiter22]

Based on what you said the ball should have been ruled foul. If the umpire had the ball fair the runner should have been out for interference. Under no circumstance should the batter-runner be allowed to reach first base. While based on your post this is not the case, keep in mind that even though the ball/runner are in foul territory the batter-runner can still be called out based on rule 6.05(I) "After hitting or bunting a foul ball, he intentionally deflects the course of the ball in any manner while running to first base. The ball is dead and no runners may advance." However you might wanna make sure it's pretty obvious before picking that battle.

[BrianC14]

This is the epitome of HTBT. (Had To Be There).

[JamesC]

While this subject has been brought up, did anyone see the Cincinnati game tonight (8/15) where the umpire ruled the BR out on two seperate occasions for making contact with his bunt outside the batter's box? I could see where the first call could be legit, but there was absolutely NO way the second guy was. The ball went straight down and hit his foot before he even got the other one out of the box. Anyone else see this?

[willv28]

Assuming it was foul when it was touched then it should have been foul. That is assuming the umpire wouldn't have felt the interference on the ball was deliberate. If he was touching it on purpose to keep it foul, he'd be out for INT. If the ball was fair when touched, he's out for INT. So under no circumstance should he have 1st. The best is it is foul. It's unlikely that the ball would touch another player before touching the BR.

This is only counting interference by the BR, no one else.

Edited August 16, 2009 by willv28
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